My wife and I had a long day yesterday of testing out some SUVs. We started out at the Mazda dealer. She was initially hesitant about even trying a CX-5 because of our disappointing experience with the CX-7, but they had sent me a card in the mail recently where they expressed interest in buying our CX-7 outright for an "aggressive" offer. While they checked out our CX-7, we test drove a CX-5. We both really liked it. Definitely felt a bit smaller in terms of shoulder room, etc. inside the cabin, but it seemed to have plenty of storage capacity (according to the specs I pulled from Edmunds, it's got more storage capacity than the CX-7). We tried a Touring edition, since it wasn't too much more than the Sport and had the more powerful engine, with supposedly just a minor loss in MPG. My wife appreciated the power driver seat which comes with the Touring edition (take note, that will turn out to play a significant role in our day).
Unfortunately, when we got back inside to find out what they were willing to offer us for the CX-7, they told us that there was a significant issue with our Carfax report. It was indicating that the airbag had been deployed in Sep 2012. The date listed corresponded to a day when my wife was rear-ended in a private parking lot, and our CX-7 sustained a minor scratch/scuff, that was so minor that we didn't even touch it up. The airbag was certainly not deployed. The other person's car (I think a Honda Accord) had possibly a broken headlight and minor dent, but nothing too significant (and certainly no airbag deployment in her car, either). She wanted to call the police and file a claim, so my wife had to wait around for that. The cop indicated that because it was on private property, he wouldn't be filing an official police report. Anyway, now we have to try to work through Carfax to get this removed/corrected, and I have a feeling it's going to be a huge pain. The Mazda dealer indicated that it would cost us at least $2000 on the trade-in value.
At that point, I was practically ready to go home, not being in a very good mood, and thinking we should focus on getting the Carfax corrected instead of even bringing it to any other dealers for them to appraise, but we wanted to try out the Honda CR-V and new Toyota RAV4, so we marched on. The Honda was next and I wasn't expecting for it to be at the top of my list, simply because it's styling does nothing for me. We both were pleasantly surprised by the way it drove, though, and kind of liked that the rearview camera allowed you to cycle between three different views. But you had to go all the way up to the EX-L model (around $29k list) to get a power driver seat. This is a problem for my wife because I tend to drive her SUV as much as I drive my car (mainly when I need to haul something around, or even just go grocery shopping). She doesn't want to have to use the lever to raise the seat that I've lowered. So one thing we experimented with was to see if we could both find a seat height that would work for both of us. On top of that, we decided to explain the Carfax issue to the sales rep, who brushed it off as a non-issue, only to later tell us that their appraisal info is shared with the Mazda dealer (same overall company), so it wouldn't be any different/better than what they quoted us.
After that, we took a brief drive through a Subaru parking lot and confirmed my suspicions: my wife wasn't interested in what they had (they looked "squished" as she put it). She wants to drive higher up.
Next up was the Toyota dealer (different company). We first walked around outside and looked at the RAV4, Highlander, and an Brick Red '08 FJ Cruiser (we both like that color). I knew that they had the used FJ there, but wasn't seriously interested in it as they were asking $26k for it (low mileage @ 24k miles, but still rather pricey for an '08). We then went inside and sat inside a RAV4. Exterior/interior was attractive, but it looked "small", probably because it sat next to a Highlander. The CX-5 didn't look small likely because it was sitting next to other smaller cars at the Mazda dealer. We then discovered the next issue with the RAV4: no power seats on the model inside, and because it had a sunroof, I definitely seemed to notice a lack of headroom. I quickly checked what features came with which models, and determined that you had to go all the way up to a Limited (about $30k list) to get a power driver seat. However, the base Sport model did not have a sunroof (something we don't care about anyway), so we talked to a rep and specifically asked to test drive a Sport model. I think we were both pretty impressed with the RAV4, but definitely felt like the CX-5 offered more for the money. We then took the FJ for a spin, just to compare. My wife liked it (she had driven one before), but I was now thinking more logically about whether it really made sense (about 18mpg, harder entry, more blindspots). Nevertheless, after that, we decided to take one last trip to a Toyota dealer close to our home that had a Silver '10 FJ Cruiser with about 60k miles for $23,700...
First impression of the Silver FJ was that their prep team would need to do some work. The prior owner used it for their business and had stickers on the side and back with their .com address. The windshield had a chip in it, and there were some dings and scuffs in the paint, but from a couple feet away you didn't really notice any of that and it looked pretty clean. Inside, there was a tear in the driver's seat. The sales rep seemed confident that most of that would be fixed by them, but I always wonder when a dealer has had a car in their possession for a week or more, why they didn't correct those issues proactively, so we'd definitely want to get it all in writing ahead of time. The test drive went OK, though the engine and wind noise seemed louder than I had remembered the previous '08 test drive going. In 2010 they added a rear view camera, but it shows up in a tiny window in your rear view mirror. It was blurry (maybe the camera itself just needed to be cleaned) and harder to use overall (the small SUVs we tested earlier in the day had guidelines, etc.). However, the FJ also had proximity sensors which started to beep when my wife tested out backing into a parking spot, and she thought those were great.
When we left there we stopped for some groceries and my wife ran into Five Guys to get our daughter (who had been home alone all day - she's 14) some fries. One of the guys working at Five Guys spotted the FJ Cruiser brochure in her purse and proceeded to tell her about how his friend got an FJ and now regrets the purchase because of the blind spots, parking difficulties, etc. Apparently he was also originally interested in getting a CX-5. Ha!
So our first order of business now is to try to get the Carfax issue corrected. If we decide to go new (most likely with the CX-5), what options are there these days for requesting online anonymous quotes from area dealers? I used one of them in the past (when I bought my RX-8), but I've forgotten the name of it. I did some Googling yesterday and came across something called carwoo! We're also Costco members and I guess there's a service they offer. Normally I prefer to buy used, but if we do buy new, I prefer to work through these types of services ahead of time, rather than deal with the nonsense of haggling at a stealership.
